Story Mutation: Denzel Washington's Support of the Troops

A few weeks ago, an email story was circulating about how actor Denzel Washington, while visiting wounded soldiers in an Army hospital in December 2004, had written a check on the spot to pay for a new facility where wounded soldiers' families can stay while visiting.   I certainly believed the email when I saw it, because Washington is known for his quiet generosity in supporting the Boys' Clubs / Girls' Clubs and other charitable causes. 

But this particular story proved to have mutated in the retelling, in the space of just a few short weeks.  In fact, the person who originally sent the email apparently wasn't even there.  According to a story in today's Houston Chronicle:

"There is no doubt that [Washington] and his wife are going to support us, but he did not whip out his checkbook and write us a check," said Jim Weiskopf, of the Fisher House Foundation in Rockville, Md.  * * * 

A widely circulated e-mail, popular among troops in Iraq, praises Washington for underwriting the construction of a third housing facility near Brooke Army Medical Center. But officials say plans for that unit were well under way when he visited in December.

Now that Washington's generosity has reached urban-legend proportions, Fisher House has received many inquiries and has tracked down the e-mail that claims he spontaneously agreed to pay in full for the housing unit.

"The person who sent it wasn't even there that day," Weiskopf said.

A popular urban-legends site, snopes.com, has more details.

Comments

[Philip]

Whether the urban legend is shot down, it only spaks to the degree in timing of Mr. Washingon's charity, not the reality of it.

The fact remains, his son is a serving Marine in Iraq.
The fact remains, he DOES open his cheque book to support those charities that speak to him.
The fact remains that he DOES support such infra-structure support of the families of our wounded warriors.

The fact remains, that he is a good man.

Philip

[helen]

philip says about denzel..."The fact remains, his son is a serving Marine in Iraq."

i have no wish to disparage any good the man has done....but let's be sure of our facts. the fact is, he does not have a son serving in Iraq. his 21-year-old son, John David Washington, is currently a student and football star at Morehouse College in Atlanta. his other son is only 13 years old.